Configure a preset list of keys

Defining a preset list of keys is useful when you want to enforce consistency for the keywords or external links used in a documentation set.

Rather than each user creating their own keys, you can define a list of the commonly-used or company-approved keys that users can access in the DITA Map view and insert into their maps. Once inserted into a map, the keys can be used within topics attached to the map. This method is useful for keeping a single set of approved keys for use across your publications.

The list is defined in the keydefnames.xml configuration file in system/conf. The file contains two types of keys:

Keywords, which are listed in the following section:
```
<type label="Keyword" name="keyword">
```
External links, which are listed in the following section:
```
<type label="External links" name="xref">
```

Each key is defined as a <keydefname> element in the appropriate section. Each <keydefname> element contains attributes defining the name of the key and its default value. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE keydefnames PUBLIC "-//ixiasoft.com//cms//config//keydefnames" "keydefnames.dtd">
<keydefnames>
	<type label="Keyword" name="keyword">
		<keydefname name="company" default-value="IXIASOFT"/>						
	</type>
	<type label="External links" name="xref">
	<keydefname name="companyweb" default-value="www.ixiasoft.com"/>						
	</type>
</keydefnames>

Important: Make configuration changes in a test environment and confirm they work before copying them to a production environment.

In the TEXTML Administration perspective, connect to your server.
Locate the keydefnames.xml file in the repository's /system/conf/ collection.
Check out the file and open it for editing.
For each new keyword or external link that you want to specify, insert a new line in the appropriate section using the format <keydefname name="[key name]" default-value="[key value]"/>.
For example, if you wanted to create a key for the company's name, you would add the following in the section labeled keyword:
```
<keydefname name="company" default-value="IXIASOFT"/>
```
Save, close, and check in the file.
Inform users of the changes and request that they close and reopen their CCMS Desktop to apply the changes.